Deadline: June 1st, 2016
Payment: $25 CAN and a contributor’s copy

The Stars at my Door?

Yes – we think this is a suitable title for an anthology that celebrates the optimistic science fiction of yesteryear.

So you are looking for Olde Worlde writing?

Not at all (unless that is your thing). We just want stories that embrace the enthusiasm and optimism of ‘old school’ science fiction – stories that aren’t afraid to dream big, get a little weird, not bothered too much with being scientifically accurate, and still have a bit of a sting in the tail.

What should I be looking at to get a flavor of the sort of subs you are looking for?

Well, this anthology was born out of the publisher’s love for the short writing of Fredric Brown and Harry Harrison among others, specifically Brown’s extraordinary short stories to be found in ‘Nightmares and Geezenstacks’ and Harrison’s amazing tales based around the use of a ‘matter transmitter’ in ‘One Step from Earth’.

Aside from these, you should delve into the authors that sprung up during the ‘Golden Age’, folks like Heinlein, Brackett, Vance, E.E. Smith, Pohl, Bradbury, and anything John W. Cambell greenlit before he became too immersed in realism. Think Captain Video, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, with a dash of Verne.

That doesn’t mean we just want period pieces – your story can still be contemporary if you so desire, but it will be much harder to shrug off the shackles of modern cynicism and realist goals…

What should my story be about?

The sky’s the limit, however, we would prefer stories that deal with exploration, new discoveries, a yearning to reach beyond the stars. Meeting our preferred topic is half the battle.

The nitty-gritty

We are looking for stories around the 5000-7000 mark – we can be negotiated with if you go over or under this amount.

Payment will be a flat fee of $25 CAN plus one contributor copy of the paperback, a digital copy and 50% off future purchases of the anthology.

The submission period will open on February 1st and close on June 1st.
Stories can be sent to [email protected] – please use ‘Stars-storytitle-yourname-wordcount’ as the subject header.

Please refer to our ‘Submissions’ page for all of the other technical stuff, and feel free to contact us if you want more information.

Thank you, and good luck!

Via: April Moon Books.